Thursday, December 1, 2011

December 1, 2011 - Daily Blog (#OWS)

The irony of the LAPD arresting Yasha Levine–a political refugee from Soviet totalitarianism– for the crime of reporting on a demonstration against oligarchy power, a demonstration protected by the Constitution, reveals again just how depraved and corrupted America has become.

[A]t 5 a.m. Wednesday there was only a graveyard of democratic hope. The protesters were gone, 200 arrested for exercising their constitutional rights, and only the television crews stayed to pick over the carcass of tents, books and posters, including one I pulled from the debris that read “99% you can’t arrest an idea.” Actually, you can, and the bankers have, as a result, been able to reoccupy Los Angeles’ City Hall and every other contested outpost of power throughout the nation.

1 comment:

Chris Hedges is magnificent. Marx wrote about capitalism turning everything into a commodity, but I'd forgotten about that psychological invasion. It seemed grievous enough what our overlords were doing to us simply on an economic level. But capitalism really does corrupt at a much deeper level than we, who are immersed in it, can fully grasp. Stunted lives, twisted ambitions, corrupted souls. The entry, the little wormhole that capitalists leave us to begin our journey back to our full glorious humanity is a big "I've had enough of this shit. Fuck you."